May you live in interesting times: China, Japan and peacekeeping

In Japan, too, the events of I I September forced a complete reassessment of foreign policy obj ectives and interests, and demanded a change in the legal basis for Japanese involvement in peacekeeping operations.2 Since the end of the Second World War, domestic politics had been largely structured around ongoing debates about Japan's international responsibilities and how far it should become involved in international society. Any desire to broaden the role of the non-belligerent Self Defence Force (SDF) was contested and resisted, and although the last decade of the twentieth century saw Japan materialise into a more active player in international peacekeeping operations, the dramatic events of 200 I forced Japan into expanding the terms and conditions under which it might participate in peacekeeping activities that were sponsored by the United Nations (UN). On 7 December 200 I, the BBC reported that the Japanese parliament, the Diet, had finally approved a law that would allow Japanese troops involved in peacekeeping operations to take up arms not only in self-defence, but also to protect soldiers from other nations and civilians such as refugees.